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Planning a Safe Room

Every year, tornadoes, hurricanes, and other severe windstorms rip through hundreds of towns and cities across the United States, injuring and killing people and causing millions of dollars in property damage. You can protect your family from injury caused by the high winds and flying debris of a windstorm by constructing or installing a safe room in your home. A safe room is different from the other rooms in your home because it has been specially designed and tested to withstand wind speeds of up to 250 miles per hour and the impact of a 15 pound 2 by 4 flying at a speed of 100 miles per hour. Typically, the safe room should be located in a central, interior, ground-floor area of the home for additional protection as well as accessibility. The basement of a home can also be used as a location for a safe room. A safe room can be incorporated into the construction of a new home, or it can be retrofitted into an existing home. The safe room can function year-round as a usable area, such as a bathroom, closet or utility room. Safe rooms can be constructed out of reinforced concrete, reinforced concrete masonry or combinations of wood frame and steel sheathing or concrete masonry infill. Safe rooms can also be manufactured, assembled and installed on site. Here are some things to consider when constructing or installing a safe room: Safe rooms must be structurally isolated from the main structure of your home. Safe rooms must be securely anchored to the foundation. Safe rooms installed in or over a crawl space must have a separate foundation. Safe rooms must have adequate ventilation. All components of safe rooms, including walls, ceilings, and door assemblies, must be designed and tested to resist the specified wind forces and prevent perforation by windborne debris.

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Planning a Safe Room

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" Every year tornadoes, hurricanes, and other severe windstorms ripped through hundreds of towns and cities across the United States; injuring and killing people and causing millions of dollars in property damage. You can protect your family from injury caused by the high winds and flying debris of a windstorm by constructing or installing a safe room in your home. A safe room is different from the other rooms in your home, because it has been specifically designed and tested to withstand wind speed of up to 250 miles per hour and the impact of a 15-pound 2 X 4 flying at a speed of 100 miles per hour. Typically, the safe room should be located in a central interior ground floor area of the home. For additional protection as well as accessibility, the basement of a home can also be used as a location or a safe room. A safe room can be incorporated into the construction of a new home or it can be retrofitted into an existing home. The safe room can function year-round as a usable area such as a bathroom, closet, or utility room. Safe rooms can be constructed out of reinforced concrete, reinforced concrete masonry, or combinations of wood frame and steel sheathing or concrete masonry and fill. Safe rooms can also be manufactured and assembled and installed on site. Here are somethings to consider when constructing or installing a safe room. Safe rooms must be structurally isolated from the main structure of your home. Safe rooms must be securely anchored to the foundation. Safe rooms installed in or over a crawl space must have a separate foundation. Safe rooms must have adequate ventilation. All components of safe rooms including walls, ceilings, and door assemblies must be designed and tested to resist the specified wind forces and prevent perforation by windborne debris. FEMA has ready-to-use plans for homeowners to build a shelter in an existing house or in a new house. Information about manufactured safe rooms is available from the National Storm Shelter Association. For more information about protecting your home from disaster, visit flash.org."

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